


Dawn's Sage

by Panory



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 07:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4295838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panory/pseuds/Panory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The toads raise Naruto to replace Minato as their summoner. Trained as a sage, Naruto will strike out to find his fellow jinchuriki. Just not in the way you would expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me that some people use this as opposed to Fanfiction.net so I thought I'd post my story here. It's a direct copy/paste, so if any of my Author's notes don't make any sense (wishing a merry Christmas or whatever) that's why. I'm gonna do one chapter a day on this site, just FYI.

Dawn's Sage

Prologue

Minato was not having a good day. Sure it started out fine, just like any other. Then Kushina had gone into labor, and October tenth had gone from decent to wonderful. He was a father to a beautiful boy named Naruto. Then some masked man claiming to be Madara Uchiha had not only found out about the ANBU guarded cave where his son was born, but had gotten past the guards, killed Sarutobi's wife, kidnapped his son, taken Kushina when Minato went to save Naruto, released the Nine Tails in the middle of the village, and just when Minato had him, he escaped anyway. If Minato lived through today, a feat getting less and less likely, he would despise October the tenth.

However, Minato had to prioritize. And right now the biggest priority was dealing with the Nine Tails. The beast had so many legends spread about it and its fearsome power, and lived up to every single one. Killing this kind of beast was beyond even the First Hokage, and was definitely beyond his own skills. But while Minato might not have the Tailed Beast suppressing Wood Style, he did have something the First didn't. Sealing. All he had to do was keep the Nine Tails occupied long enough to finish the job. Minato glanced at the raging tails and gave up any hope of holding the thing down himself. Minato bit his thumb and ran through the hand signs. He jumped above the Nine Tails and slammed his palm down. And in a puff of smoke the great beast was gone.

" _Not quite gone yet_ ," Minato reminded himself. Using the Flying Thunder God on two targets of such size was straining even for him. And he still had to get Kushina and… the container for the Nine Tails. "Gamabunta! I need you to hold this thing down while I prepare… the seal!"

"No promises, I might finish him off before you get back!" said the large chief of the Toads. As it turned out, the new chief still had some growing to do mentally. In the scarce minute that Minato was gone the Nine Tails had managed to slice his stomach despite the toad playing a careful defense. Any wounds inflicted by the toad's blade seemed to disappear within seconds. Gamabunta stuck to firing off Water Bullets from a distance after almost having his gut spilled over the forest.

Minato returned, now with a small child and his dying wife. Minato summoned a sealing altar on top of Gamabunta's head and put the child down on the platform to begin the sealing. Any other day, Gamabunta would have been angry at being treated like a glorified table, but today he realized it was something he had to overlook.

Gamabunta wasn't the only one to notice the presence of a sealing altar and a jinchuriki-to-be. The Nine Tails roared in anger before sprinting at Gamabunta to try and interrupt the sealing. Minato shouted something as well, and though it was drowned out by the Nine Tails' fury, Gamabunta could guess what it was he had to do. Just as the Nine Tails neared him, the toad leapt into the air and stabbed the Nine Tails' reaching paw into the ground with his sword. Minato finished whatever he had been doing on top of the toad's head, and a pressing feeling of death overtook the area. The Nine Tails roared again, not in rage this time, but something more akin to fear or annoyance.

Then the beast shrunk. Gamabunta couldn't find any other way to explain it. The Nine Tails went from a healthy looking, if enormous and nine-tailed, fox to a scrawny, laughable facsimile of the terrifying beast it was. But the Nine Tails was anything but weak, even in its diluted state. Gamabunta's eyes widened as the Nine Tails lunged forward with its claws, threatening to impale what Gamabunta presumed was the new jinchuriki on top of his head. Gamabunta tried to dodge the attack, but it had come from such a close range he had no real chance of dodging it completely. Still Gamabunta though he had evaded it as the claw passed over his eye by several feet, not much in relation to the two beasts fighting. As it was, the toad ended up with a wound over his left eye, the Nine Tails' corrosive chakra leaving a massive scar. He had blinked on reflex, the only thing preventing him from losing his eye entirely.

The feeling of death came on seemingly twice as strong as before, and the Nine Tails roared in absolute fury at being entirely sealed into a newborn baby. Gamabunta looked down as he saw Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, fall to the forest floor alongside his wife, Kushina Uzumaki. His summoner dead, Gamabunta returned to Mount Myobokuzan, his last image that of the Third Hokage catching their bodies.

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Gamabunta returned to the sound of toads all around and a cacophony of questions.

"QUIET!" yelled Gamabunta, "ONE AT A TIME!"

The crowd parted to allow two toads through, one green and one purple, both only as big as Gamabunta's eye. These were Fukasaku and Shima, the Elder Toad Sages of Mount Myubokuzan. Of course the young hotshot of a chief liked to remind them mostly of the Elder part of their title. "Little Minato's name is no longer on the wall of summoners. As the last toad summoned, do you know anything we don't?" asked Fukasaku, the little green toad.

"Aye, he died defeating the Nine Tails. I don't know the circumstances around the fight, but if Minato hadn't of sealed the thing when he did, I might not be here." said Gamabunta.

"That's Minato for you. Even when he's facing the Nine Tails, he still manages to win. He was a good summoner." murmured Shima.

"By the way boy, I can see the scar on your eye and your gut coming from the Nine Tails' claws, but what on earth caused that thing on your head?" asked Fukasaku.

"What?!" exclaimed Gamabunta as he reached up on his head in a panic. His hands settled on a lump in the middle of his head that hadn't been there before. As soon as he covered the bump, it began to cry.

"Oi! Be quiet up there!" the toad chief yelled. This of course did nothing but make the lump cry all the louder.

Shima jumped up on the chief's head to see what was up on his head, as it was now clearly not a battle wound. Upon reaching the crying mass, she discovered it to be a child, not even a day old yet, with blond hair and three marks down the sides of his cheeks. Looking at the sealing altar he was placed upon, Shima shouted down to Gamabunta, "It looks like the new jinchuriki tagged along for the ride back. We can't get him back to the Hidden Leaf now that Minato's dead. We could send a message to Jiraiya. Then again I don't want to be trusting him with a baby."

"You two are plenty old enough to have raised a lot of tadpoles in your time. What's one more for a short time?" asked Gamabunta mockingly.

"That might not be the worst idea you've had boy. I guess we can care for the little tadpole for a while. After all, he looks enough like him to be Minato's son. We could use a new summoner. Then again, we might be too old for the job… Why don't you take the crying, pooping, crying, eating, crying little tyke, eh?" said Fukasaku as Shima joined him on the ground, now carrying the baby.

"Oh no, that's quite, uh, generous, but, you know, I have a young one of my own all the way and, umm, you two would be a much better influence on him! I couldn't deprive you of such joy when I already have my own." stammered Gamabunta as he quietly regretted his choice to mock his elders' age.

"So boy, does the tyke have a name?" asked Shima.

"I… don't know."

A light green toad about the size of a horse with a ridiculous bow and makeup hopped forward and spoke up in an equally ridiculously high voice. "I remember Jiraiya honey mentioning how Minato's son was going to be named after the main character of his first book. So his name is probably Naruto. Could I get a closer look at little Naruto? He is so cute I could simply-"

"Thank you for your help Gamariki, I think we should get Naruto here settled if he's to be staying for any length of time." interrupted Fukasaku.

"Well you don't have to be so rude about it." replied Gamriki as his voice dropped several octaves.

With that the toads all went their separate ways to both mourn Minato's death and rejoice in having found a new prospective summoner so soon. Gamabunta went to lick his wound (figuratively) by soaking in one of Mount Myobokuzan's oil springs. Fukasaku and Shima carried the now identified Naruto to their house to get a room ready for him, and hopefully stop his incessant crying. Fukasaku hoped that Naruto would be an acceptable replacement for Minato as a summoner. Little did he know that Naruto would smash his expectations into a thousand pieces.

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**A/N: Prologue of my first fic is now a real thing. Wooo! This might seem a bit like Konoha's Young Sage, but that's just the prologue I swear! I've read most of the decent Naruto fanfics, and some of the bad ones, and I have yet to find one like what I have planned for this. At least nothing as (hopefully) well written and (hopefully) realistic in its execution. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Dawn's Sage Chapter 2

Dawn's Sage

Chapter 2

"Naruto!"

"Coming!" replied the four year old boy. Naruto had deep blue eyes, and shockingly yellow hair. He stood at a little less than four feet, but that was still plenty tall enough to tower over the small green toad that had called him over.

"Naruto," began Fukasaku, "these past years Shima and I have raised you as one f our own tadpoles. Do you know why?"

"Because it's up to me to be the next toad summoner. I know this Pa!" said Naruto.

"Aye aye. But do you know what you have to do to become the toad summoner?" countered Fukasaku.

"Well… I guess I'd summon toads… and maybe be summoned by toads?" ventured Naruto.

"Being the toad summoner does entail both those things, yes. But you'd also need to train in order to utilize your chakra. Now before you ask," said Fukasaku, cutting off Naruto's budding question, "chakra is an energy used to do a lot of things, like summon toads. It's produced by you, me, Ma, and everything else in the world. Since you hold it in your body, you can only have so much of it at a time, and if you run out, you die. One thing I'll be teaching you is how to use the chakra other things make, so you don't run out as easily. It'll be hard, but if you're not up for it I could always take you to the Hidden Leaf Village…"

"No way Pa! If I can be even a bit as cool as old 'Bunta, I'll work super duper hard!" said Naruto excitedly.

"All right then. I figured you say that. We'll start with some meditation." said Fukasaku, pulling out a small stick from his cloak. "Try not to move."

"I think I've got it Pa, erm, Fukasaku sensei." said Naruto as excitedly as one can while not moving at all. He winced and reached up to rub the back of his head after the stick came down for referring to his sensei as 'Pa'. This training was going to be a pain.

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"I'm impressed. Getting a grasp on Sage Mode at such a young age is a feat to be sure. Meeting a young 'un who can stay still at all is rare enough, but sensing and then absorbing natural chakra is near impossible. You shouldn't have the reserves to do anything of the sort." said Fukasaku, bringing his stick back into his cloak.

"Well I am quite impressive. The one who does impossible things, I like the sound of that. I dare say I might even be better than you were back in the day. When was that day, a hundred years ago?" said the six year old, soaking up the praise like a sponge.

"I take it back. You aren't quite mature or wise enough to be called a 'Sage' yet. More like a 'Junior Sage'." quipped Fukasaku.

"Hey, I'm plenty wise enough to be a sage. Besides, I've mastered Sage Mode, so there's no way I can't be a Sage." said Naruto, confident in his logic.

"Oh ho ho, mastered, eh? I'd say you have a ways to go before you've 'mastered' Sage Mode. What kind of enemy would let his opponent sit there and charge up energy for ten minutes? As it is now, your Sage Mode is useless in combat." said Fukasaku.

"Well what else can I do, huh? You said it yourself, 'One MUST be ABSOLUTELY still when gathering Natural chakra, or risk losing control and joining these poor fools who tried and failed.'" said Naruto, gesturing to the surrounding statues of toads in meditative poses, those who had failed their Sage Mode training and paid the price.

"Yes, one must be still when gathering natural chakra, but not when using it. And it's child's play for one sage to give natural chakra to another sage. Using a technique I developed for just such a use, the Sage Art: Amphibian Technique, Shima and I can fuse with you. We gather the natural chakra while you do the fighting in Sage Mode. Pretty useful, huh?" said Fukasaku, obviously pleased with himself for creating such an amazing technique. Meanwhile Naruto was imagining what a fusion of himself and Fukasaku would look like, his mind conjuring monstrosity after monstrosity for to be horrified by. Seeing the look on his face, Fukasaku quickly explained. "It's not an equal fusion. It mostly looks like we're just sitting on your shoulders."

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding in relief. Fukasaku quickly jumped on his shoulder and began the technique. It didn't last long as the small toad was violently ejected from his perch. Fukasaku picked himself up and began thinking as to why his wonderful technique had failed so catastrophically. He came up with nothing and decided to try again, brushing off Naruto's concern for his wellbeing. Upon attempting the Amphibian Technique again, the jutsu seemed to work as intended for an instant.

 **I refuse to share this cage with some pathetic little**   ** _frog._ ** **OUT!**

And the instant was gone, as Fukasaku was launched across the clearing once again. This time however, he had a much clearer idea of what had gone wrong.

"Pa! Are you okay?" asked Naruto in concern.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Tell me Naruto, what do you know about the Nine Tails?" said Fukasaku, brushing himself off.

"Isn't that the story you used to tell me when I was a baby about the last Toad Summoner?" asked Naruto, wondering why Fukasaku was bringing up a fairy tale from before Naruto could remember.

"I'm afraid it's much more than a fairy tale. Minato died fighting the beast, but you can't kill a tailed beast. He was forced to seal it. But that kind of power can't be sealed into just anything. It had to have an active chakra system. And to top it off, he had to seal it into someone whose chakra system hadn't fully developed so that they could assimilate both the Nine Tails and the seal. He sealed the Nine Tails into you." said Fukasaku, "It's the Nine Tails that's rejecting the Amphibian Technique. I'm afraid that you won't be able to use Sage Mode. I realize this must be a lot to take in, but the toads and I think nothing less of you. This is-"

"Stop." interrupted Naruto, his hair shadowing his eyes. "This fox is nothing!" shouted Naruto, his eyes full of determination. "I won't let this stupid fox dictate what I can and can't do. If I can't fuse with you to use Sage Mode, then I'll just learn to use Sage Mode while moving!"

"What?! That's impossible! Gathering natural chakra, whose entire purpose is to be gathered while still, while moving is impossible! It can't be done!" said Fukasaku in disbelief.

"Before you, Sage Mode was next to useless. You invented the Amphibian Technique, I'll invent something to gather natural chakra while moving." said Naruto determinedly.

Fukasaku's eyes widened before he smiled a devious smirk. "All right. If anyone can do it, it's you. But I don't want you trying this without me nearby to knock the natural chakra outta you."

"Let's do this!" yelled Naruto.

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"Are you sure about this Naruto? You just recently learned to use Sage Mode efficiently." said Shima worriedly.

"Ma, please. I may have just finished, but I'm better at Sage Mode than either of you. I can't learn any more here. I want to see the world and find others like me." said Naruto. Six years had passed since he had first learned to absorb natural chakra and enter Sage Mode. The twelve year old still had his bright yellow hair, but now his eyes were a golden yellow with bar-like pupils and natural chakra showing itself as orange markings around his eyes.

"The boy's right Ma. He's surpassed both of us at the technique, but he's still too inexperienced to be a true 'Sage'. Real world experience is the only way to fix that." Fukasaku agreed.

"Well I suppose as long as he summons us whenever he gets in over his head." consented Shima. "Take this before you go though. It's reserved for sages of Mount Myobokuzan. Pa doesn't agree that you've reached that mark, but I do. Besides, it might get cold wherever you're going."

Naruto took the red cloak with black flames on the bottom reverently and put it on. Shima hadn't lied. The cloak was exceptionally cozy and warm. Naruto quickly said his goodbyes and left Mount Myobokuzan before his tears could catch up to him. Naruto swore then that he would not return to Mount Myobokuzan until he had become a true 'Sage'. If only he knew what that would entail.

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Naruto felt that Shima and Fukasaku had raised him well, and they had. Not only had they taught him right from wrong, they had also taught him more practical things, like numbers and language, manners and etiquette. Naruto had very strict criteria for anything he decided to do. First and foremost, the action in question needed to pose no potential threat to his precious people, currently limited to the toads of Mount Myobokuzan. Secondly, it had to not reveal his status as a jinchuriki. According to Fukasaku and Shima, jinchuriki were often mistreated and targeted for the beasts they contained. Unfortunately, having only these criteria to judge potential actions by gave him a lot of options, not all of them 'good'. Which is how he found himself working for a terrorist organization as a ninja for hire. It wasn't all bad; Tasogare, the organization employing him, had goals which might have been construed as noble, and the pay was definitely good. The idea of 'liberating' the Land of Woods wasn't something Naruto had a vested interest in, but it wasn't anything too nefarious. Mostly it consisted of Naruto protecting the real rebels from skilled ninja called 'Roots' while Tasogare destroyed Root bases with massive amounts of explosive notes. Naruto had to admit that the Root ANBU were skilled, but he wasn't a sage for nothing. He didn't summon the toads during his skirmishes with Root forces to keep from being mistaken for Jiraiya of the Sannin, the only other Toad Summoner. Naruto would keep his anonymity a bit longer.

Tasogare had contacted him after one of his less appealing missions. He had built up as much of a reputation as someone who doesn't want to be noticed can. He had yet to be listed in any Bingo books, but his reputation ensured that he never wanted for ryō. He had yet to encounter another jinchuriki like himself, but if Fukasaku was telling the truth, Hidden Villages were rather secretive about their jinchuriki.

Naruto was broken out of his memories by the call of one of the samurai that Tasogare was composed of. "Hey, Naruto. Zaji wanted to see you when you get the chance." said one of the approaching rebels.

"Thanks Ao, I'll go see what he wanted." replied Naruto, looking up from his meal. He stood up and began walking away to find the leader of Tasogare. He turned his head back around to face his meal when he was several feet away. Suddenly his tongue shot out of his mouth like a bullet from a gun, and stuck to the last bit of bacon he had been eating. His tongue then shot back into his mouth just as quickly as it had come out, taking the piece of bacon with it. Petra jumped back in shock as the slimy appendage flashed past her face. Naruto jogged off to find Zaji. He found the commander of Tasogare where one might expect, at the map table in the war tent.

"Petra said you wanted to see me. Is it a new job?" asked Naruto, cutting straight to the chase. He liked the whole 'saving a country' thing, but he was in this for the pay at the end of the day.

"Yes, one last job. We are this close," Zaji said, holding up two fingers not even an inch apart to signify just  _how_  close they were, "to ejecting Danzo's accursed Root ANBU from the Land of Woods, thanks in no small part to you. But their last base is heavily defended. Too heavily defended for any of my men, and probably even you. That's why I've hired some outside help for this one. She came highly recommended as a demolitions expert from a good friend. She should be joining us shortly."

Naruto spun around as he sensed something strange. Because Naruto was constantly drawing natural chakra from the environment, he could sense perfectly the location of anything he was taking the chakra of within the considerable range Sage Mode had. The chakra he had sensed now was unlike anything he had ever felt. It was clearly human in nature, but was shaped vaguely like a bird. A very large bird. That said, the chakra was incredibly unstable. Naruto theorized that the new arrival was riding on top of the bird, which was probably a summon, or some similar creature. The unstable chakra could very well be how this demolitions expert… well, demolished. Zaji followed Naruto's gaze to see an empty sky. Several minutes passed before a large hawk appeared and continued to grow as it approached them, startlingly white against the blue sky.

As the bird drew closer, Naruto noticed the person riding atop the bird, a girl not much older than himself with hair almost as bright a shade of yellow as his. Her hair went halfway down her back and had one large bang covered the left side of her face. She wore a mesh undershirt and a green battle kimono with white trim. As she drew within earshot the demolitions expert announce her presence.

"I'm here for the job with the Tasogare, yeah. Are you Zaji?" she said.

"Indeed I am. Are you the Deidara that my friend recommended?" responded Zaji.

"Of course I am, yeah. So you decided to buy some of my art to cause some havoc? Smart move yeah." the newly introduced Deidara said.

"Art?" asked Naruto, deciding to make his presence known.

"That's what my ninjutsu is, a noble and refined art." said Deidara holding up a small clay spider and her hand, which oddly enough had a mouth embedded in it, teeth, tongue, and all. "Look. Such refined lines, and a form that pursues two-dimensional deform.  _This_ is art! But that's not all there is to my art! My creations flow, yeah! Like this, it's simply molded clay. But my art  _explodes_! And when it explodes it becomes sublime, and for the first time, the essence of my creation appears, yeah! That instant of sublimation is when  _true_  art can really exist! True art, is an EXPLOSION, yeah!"

…

"Wow." said Naruto, unsure of what to say after Deidara's long winded speech on art, which apparently explodes. Having never really covered art in Fukasaku's lectures, Naruto's first exposure to art were small clay figures that exploded. Which was not exactly the socially accepted standard of the practice.

"A much as I love explaining art to the uneducated, we should probably have this schmuck leave so you can tell me what needs artistic renovation." said Deidara, gesturing to Naruto as the uneducated in the room. Naruto narrowed his golden eyes in annoyance, but otherwise remained silent, content with letting Zaji explain the situation.

"Actually, Naruto here will be working with you. Your job will to be destroying the physical structure of this base." the leader of Tasogare said, pointing to the last Root base on the map table. "Naruto here will be in charge of the personnel in the base. Can you two handle it?"

"I don't know about this guy, so don't come crying to me if he ends up as an artistic smear on the ground." said Deidara offhandedly.

Naruto glared over at her. "If you can so much as scratch me with your 'art', I'll give you my entire paycheck for this job." The two blondes slammed their foreheads together, glaring lighting over the short distance.

"I'll take that as a yes." said Zaji good naturedly. "I'll leave you to it. Remember though, if the job isn't finished, you won't get paid."

"Yeah yeah, no problem." said Naruto before he hopped into the trees, Deidara close behind on a clay bird.

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Torune would be frustrated, if Lord Danzo's harsh training hadn't removed all emotion from him. He had been sent to this backwoods country to quell a rebellion that only should have taken twenty Root ANBU to stop. This Tasogare didn't even have a single ninja among them. Torune and Fu had personally made sure that the Land of Wood's ninja clans were wiped out. No, Lord Danzo's elite Root ninja were fighting samurai… and losing. While they didn't have a single ninja, ryō was no object to the surprisingly well funded rebellion. Torune couldn't even be angry t the missing ninja that the Land of Woods had hired, both because he literally  _couldn't_  and because even missing ninja had to earn money. This of course did not translate to mercy when in combat. The mission comes first after all. And it was because of those same missing ninja that Torune had been assigned to this pathetic little assignment in the middle of nowhere, when he would be of more use serving Lord Danzo back in the Hidden Leaf. Torune had tried to muster the forces an just end this charade already so he could return to Lord Danzo's side, but Tasogare had apparently hired some rather competent ninja.

Torune was just thinking over how he would lure them out when the ceiling shook. Realizing that this either meant an enemy attack or an earthquake, Torune was forced to make a quick decision. If it was an enemy attack, they would want to stick to the base, but remaining underground during an earthquake would kill them all as surely as an army of enemy ninja. Deciding that the rebels couldn't have the kind of firepower required to make him feel the shock several dozen feet below the earth, Torune quickly order his fellow Root members out of the subterranean base. As Torune arrived at the entrance to the commandeered base, he noticed that the others had yet to exit the doors.

"What seems to be the issue?" asked Torune in his typical monotone.

"Sir, one of the sensors detected several large chakra sources outside. We determined that they are the source of the tremors. Awaiting further orders." informed one of the more experienced Root members on the squad in a tone of voice indistinguishable from Torune's.

Just as Torune about to order the squads back to defensive positions to repel the enemies, the doors crashed inwards and crushed several less alert Root members. Torune was down to only himself and seven other Root. Although, Torune couldn't blame the two dead Root members for being crushed by the large metal doors. The doors had been reinforced by a Dual Iron Bar Seal, anyone capable of destroying them, even with repeated barrage was a not force to trifled with. Before the dust could clear, what appeared to be a long tongue shot out of the cloud of debris and hit one of his remaining Root in the chest. The tongue immediately retreated back into the dust cloud.

" _Make that six Root ANBU left._ " thought Torune as despondently as someone without emotions can. The almost sad feeling changed to not quite surprise when the Root member dragged into the dust came flying out a moment later at phenomenal speeds, leaving a massive crater in the wall he was embedded in. Torune reassured himself with the thought that no matter how strong the individual was, one touch would be enough to end him. As Torune shed his gloves and shirt, his skin took on a vibrant shade of purple, not exactly as stealthy as one would like for a profession based on sneaking around. Of course, that didn't matter since if Torune had taken off his shirt and gloves, he wasn't trying to be stealthy. The time had come to die for the mission if needed.

"Wow, only ten enemies! When Zaji said that this base was well defended, I thought he was serious." said their mystery attacker as he stepped out of the settling dust cloud. "I don't even need Deidara's help on this."

Torune took in the attacker. His blonde hair stood out in stark contrast to the Root ANBU's standard crème colored cloaks and blank white masks. His red cloak with black flames licking at the bottom certainly would have impressed on most people how cool this individual was, but none of the Root ANBU were impressed. But the strangest thing about him was his eyes. They were a dull gold, with bar like pupils and his eyes were surrounded by what appeared to be orange eye shadow. Perhaps some kind of bloodline? Regardless, he would be colored purple by the end of this.

That was when his accomplice arrived. Another blonde with equally bright hair, her eyes were blue, or at least the one Torune could see was. The large owl she was on however, was white. What nearly irritated him was the fact that Tasogare had sent two children, no older than thirteen to face down experience Root ANBU. Based on the insults flying between the two of them, they weren't even a cohesive team. He took the time given to him by the two allies arguing to send a nonverbal plan to his teammates with the Root ANBU hand sign code. This was exactly why he didn't understand how emotions could ever be an asset on the battle field. By arguing, they had given their enemies enough time to plot against them. Root ANBU never disobeyed an order, even when it involved attacking an unknown opponent to discern their strength. Which is what one of them did; swinging his tanto at the first blonde's exposed back while another ran at the female. The two of them stopped bickering to throw up their right hands. That's when Torune knew Root would be walking away from this fight in pain, if at all.

The Root ANBU behind the female exploded. One of the remaining Root members signaled his observations from his better viewpoint. He had seen a small white blur jump from the girl's hand. That had most likely been some sort of explosive that had killed Root member number four. In contrast, no one had an explanation for what had killed Root member number five. He had been several feet away from the red clad blonde's fist, but had gone flying back as if Tsunade herself had punched him in the face. Torune decided to take the male blonde, and signaled the other four Root ANBU to take out the female.

Torune ran at his opponent as the other Root members moved at the same time. The white owl that the female was standing on flapped its wings and took to the sky, exiting the base as the Root members followed. The first blonde made the mistake of looking at his comrade leaving, taking his eyes off of Torune in the process. " _The last mistake he'll ever make."_ thought Torune as he went to punch his opponent in across the exposed skin of the face. Instead of the fist making contact, the blonde reached up and caught the punch in a palm that didn't give an inch. What startled Torune was the fact that his opponent hadn't looked in his direction at all.

"I'm kind of insulted that I was only deemed worthy of one opponent." said the red clad child "I mean it's not like I haven't- What!"

Torune grinned as he saw that his opponent wasn't wearing gloves. Even among the Aburame, Torune had been unique. He commanded a swarm of microscopic insects that inhabited his body. Through physical contact, he could 'infect' his opponents with these insects, which were poisonous to everyone but himself. The insects would feed off the chakra of their opponents like regular parasitic insects, but the poison killed them far faster than chakra exhaustion. The poison would take longer to spread if it started in the hand, and the limb could be amputated to remove the poison but Torune had more or less won. Still, one didn't become one of Lord Danzo's most trusted by taking risks and assuming things. Torune swept out his tanto for a quick slice to the neck for the kill.

His tanto made clean contact, but somehow failed to penetrate the skin. Not only that, the tanto shattered as if it were made of glass. Torune jumped back as his opponent went to punch him in the stomach. Rather than follow through, the blonde was staring at his left hand in what Torune imagined horror would look like as it slowly turned purple. He had won. Then the strangest thing began to happen. The purple skin began to turn stone gray from the original point of contact and quickly spread, overtaking the microscopic insects. The poison had only spread halfway up the forearm before it stopped entirely. The blonde angrily wrung his gray hand with his right hand, breaking a thin layer of actual stone that had formed over his left hand and forearm.

"Don't you know? Natural chakra is dangerous." said the blonde as he rushed through seals faster than anyone his age had any right to. He raised the final ram sign to his mouth and spewed forth a mass of yellow liquid. Torune jumped over the stream of the most peculiar Water Style he had ever seen, when he smelled it. This stream wasn't yellow water, but oil. The blonde seemed to know this as well, as he tossed an explosive note into the stream. It was quickly absorbed into the stream, and the moment the child stopped spitting the oil, it exploded. Luckily, Torune had managed to use some ninja wire from his front pouches to get away from the explosion, but the explosion was enormous, and engulfed the room. The inferno caught up to Torune quickly. He fell to the ground wreathed in flames before performing the Replacement Technique to switch with a log.

Any normal ninja would try all the harder to overcome this foe, but ninja trained as Root ANBU weren't governed by their emotions. Torune knew when to cut his losses and inform Lord Danzo of his discoveries. Torune performed the Body Flicker Technique to put as much distance between himself and the much stronger rogue ninja that had attacked the base and, presumably, killed the other nine Root members. He had put enough distance between himself and the base that he felt safe tree jumping instead of using the Body Flicker. He was glad, the Body Flicker was known to aggravate injuries received, and he had suffered painful burns across his body.

As he jumped from tree to tree, he noticed a large, white spider on one of the tree limbs he jumped past. Almost as if it responded to him noticing it, the spider jumped from its perch and latched onto his face. Right before the spider exploded, Torune heard the last words he would hear. "With this, become art! Katsu!"

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Deidara supposed her temporary partner wasn't completely useless. Sure he knocked down the doors to the enemy base, thereby alerting everyone in said base to their presence, but he had also led her to the last of the Root guys. Plus, if the burns all over the last guy's body were anything to go by, Naruto wasn't as hopeless as she had initially though when it came to art. Right now they were flying back to the Tasogare HQ to receive their rewards on her replacement mount, a large, clay hawk. Her owl had served her well, but it had finally achieved its artful purpose when it exploded in the faces of her enemies.

As they drew closer, Naruto's eye snapped open in alarm. Deidara had noticed that at the very least, he was a reliable sensor with a massive range, so when he told he to hurry to the Tasogare base, she did. Upon arriving at the base, the two young blondes found the base in ruins, tents aflame and corpses littering the ground. While the two didn't care too much for the rebels, their payment was another matter entirely. They landed to see if anything was left for them to take as collateral from their late employer. Standing in the middle of what used to be the main gathering place was one person. He stood tall and regal, as if the grime of the battle field wouldn't dare touch him. His orange hair blew slightly in the wind, but the piercings across his face distracted from even the strange hair color. The other striking thing about him was the cloak her wore. It went from a high collar down to his ankles, colored black accented by blood red clouds on the outside while the inside was the same color as the clouds. Just his very presence made the two blonde believe they couldn't take him on, even together. Naruto was the first to overcome the presence of the man who had apparently rendered this carnage upon the Tasogare camp without obtaining as much as a scratch.

"Who are you?" he managed to stammer out past the lump in his throat. The orange haired man looked the two blondes in the eyes, and they saw for the first time the purple ripples that his eyes seemed to be made of.

"I am god. I am the one who will bring peace to this pathetic world. I am Pain." introduced the man, apparently known as Pain. While his claim to be god was ridiculous, something about the way he carried himself and the power he exuded made Naruto believe him. "I am the leader of a group known as Akatsuki, comprised of a select group of powerful individuals. We cooperate for our own purposes, but my ultimate goal is to bring peace to this world. I am offering the two of you a place within the organization." continued Pain in a tone that brokered no argument.

Naruto was terrified, but he had to know. "How do you plan to bring about 'peace'? I'm all for it, but I won't follow a madman."

"Peace shall be achieved through the jinchuriki, or more specifically, the Tailed Beasts. Akatsuki shall control them to create an era of peace." said Pain with absolute conviction. "Will you stand alongside us?"

Naruto looked at Deidara and the two nodded to each other in unison. "Yes." they said simultaneously. They would follow this god, this Pain.

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**A/N: Second Chapter up. Wooo! I am aware that it skipped around a lot, but it had to be done to get to the meat of the story. This needs to be said, Naruto was born five years earlier than in canon. So while he is twelve, the other members of the Konoha 12 aren't even genin yet. Also, things that happened pre-time skip will happen when Naruto is Shippuden age, and he'll be 19 when Shippuden rolls around. I decided to make Deidar female on a whim, especially since he could be Ino's evil sister already. It won't really affect anything, and it won't be all romantic. That said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See ya!**

**EDIT: Ugh, now I know what authors mean when they complain about the site removing their line breaks. To those who read the jarbled mess of unbroken time skips yesterday, I'm sorry.**


	3. Dawn's Sage Chapter 3

Dawn's Sage

Chapter 3

Naruto and Deidara worked together as a two ninja team in the coming years. They had donned the Akatsuki cloak and placed the ring on their fingers. They had met the other members of Akatsuki, and while each was powerful in their own right, none commanded the area around them as much as Akatsuki's leader, Pain. But their adventures in Akatsuki are a tale for another time. For three years after their induction into the ranks of legends, another young ninja begins his journey to become a legend.

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Iruka Umino was one of the few ninja that was entirely content with where he was in life. He had achieved the rank of chunin and become a teacher of the next generation of ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village. While he was originally unsure about being entrusted with such an important duty, some support from his best friend Mizuki had reassured him concerning his abilities. After that small hurdle, the two friends were ready to teach to the young genin-to-be. If only they would STAY AWAKE in class! Having had enough, Iruka threw an eraser at one of the repeat offenders. The blue haired academy student groggily came to his senses as the eraser connected.

"Sora, perhaps you could tell us what type of jutsu the Legendary Sannin all use?" asked Iruka, hoping to teach the kid a lesson about paying attention.

"How the hell should I know? Aren't you the teacher? If you're asking a student for help, maybe someone needs to tell the Hokage about the low quality of the teachers here." responded Sora sarcastically.

Iruka sighed. Sora was always rude, even to people he liked. Not that he had many that liked him, having the Nine Tails sealed inside him. While the beast had strangely disappeared after its attack sixteen years ago, it had resurfaced inside Sora seven years later. It had taken all twelve of the Guardian Ninja to defeat the beast. When the dust cleared, only four people were left alive, one of them being a two year old Sora. Those in the class didn't know why Sora's right hand was bandaged, but those who were there years ago knew of the beast-like arm. Regardless, Iruka was a teacher first, so Sora would be a student first, not a beast.

"You would know, because it's what the class has been covering for the last ten minutes. Maybe if you were awake, you would know that. Sakura, what jutsu are all of the Sannin known for?" interrupted Mizuki, who had far less sympathy for Sora.

"That would be the summoning technique." began the pink hared girl. "Jiraiya summons toads, Orochimaru summons snakes, and Lady Tsunade summons slugs. It's said that-"

"NERD!" interrupted Sora in a very loud and obnoxious manner.

"SORA! DETENTION!" bellowed Iruka, the force from his voice seemingly pushing Sora's hair back like gale-force winds. Sora's head was back on the desk snoring away within the hour.

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Sora had tried to escape out the window immediately after class had been dismissed, but Iruka had noticed and grabbed the wayward student for his punishment. Sora was in the process of carrying logs into the exam room for the Replacement Technique portion of the exams tomorrow.

"You know Sora, your grades as they are won't be able to cushion a failing grade on any portion of the exam tomorrow. Even Shikamaru's grades are higher than yours." said Iruka matter-of-factly.

"So what, you think I can't make the cut, huh bub?" retaliated Sora.

"What was that?" said Iruka menacingly, not taking kindly to a student calling him names.

"Bud! I said bud! Like pal, friend, amigo, comrade, mate, chum!" exclaimed Sora hurriedly to try and avoid anymore punishment.

Iruka sighed at his student's attempt to save himself from the self dug hole. "It's not that you can't make the cut. You have the potential to be one of the best ninja of your generation. But you won't be a ninja of your generation at all if you don't try your best tomorrow. It's not a threat, just a warning from teacher to student." explained Iruka.

"You don't have to pretend to care. I'm used to it." said Sora angrily.

"I'm not pretending, Sora." began Iruka. "I really do-"

"Looks like I'm done with the posts. See ya tomorrow." said Sora as he jumped out of the window to escape the 'caring' teacher. Sora knew what happened when he got close to people; they got hurt or hurt him. Sora had decided long ago to go without friends. No matter how lonely he got.

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Sora's next human contact came hours later as he was napping in one of the trees near the Memorial Stone. The man appeared to be in his early thirties and carried a large staff on his back. He had the sides of his head shaven, leaving brown hair on only the top of his head. His jonin flak jacket was worn with pride, though even more prominently displayed was the waist-cloth adorned with the kanji for fire. Sora recognized him as Kitane, one of the three surviving members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. He waited for Sora to acknowledge his presence before speaking.

"Didn't your teacher recommend studying? I'm not sure sleeping in trees will be on the test tomorrow." said the lightning user.

"Doesn't matter. Everyone hates me for whatever reason. I doubt they'd let me be a ninja, even if I was the best in the class." said Sora bitterly.

"I knew your father." began Kitane, putting up his hand to stop the question on Sora's tongue. "His name was Kazuma, and he was one of my comrades."

"Wait, does that mean my dad was one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja?!" exclaimed Sora, stunned by this new information. "Why did no one ever tell me?"

"Only Asuma, Chiriku, and I know. Asuma served the Feudal Lord until recently; he probably forgot you were still around. You can't blame Chiriku either; he lives at the Fire Temple up in the mountains doing monk stuff. You were two when he died. I thought you were old enough to remember, and for that I apologize. Only recently did I hear that you had no idea." said Kitane, his voice drenched in sorrow for leaving a friend's son without the knowledge of his father. Sora was still speechless when Kitane spoke up again. "Though if I knew Kazuma, he wouldn't want his only son to fail the Academy Exams. If you manage to pass the test tomorrow, I managed to get an old friend to agree to take you as his student."

"Did he know my father?" asked Sora, desperate for any more information about the father he never knew.

"Asuma and Kazuma were as good of friends as they come. I was never too close to Kazuma," shrugged Kitane. "But Asuma probably knows what his favorite flavor of ramen was. If anyone could tell you more, it would be Asuma."

"Wow." said Sora, thoroughly awed. "I'm definitely gonna pass that test tomorrow, believe it!" exclaimed Sora excitedly.

"Hold up." said Kitane, holding up his hands to emphasize his point. "Asuma did say you had to pass one test to prove that you're more than just Kazuma's son. Asuma wants to see if your Kazuma's  _heir_."

"What does that mean?" asked Sora, torn between being furious that there was a catch and confused as to what Kitane meant.

"Like I said earlier, Asuma hasn't heard of you since he's been in the capital this whole time. He trusts me, but he wants to make sure. There's a technique known only by your father and Asuma. He wants to see if you can pull it off. It isn't a complicated technique, but Asuma has the only remaining scroll detailing how to use it. But we both want you to succeed, so I'll tell you where he keeps it." Sora was too ecstatic to have heard about his father and have the hope of more to notice anything suspicious.

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Sora was having a great day ever since Kitane had talked to him. Asuma's apartment had been a piece of cake to break into. The scroll had been somewhat hard to find, but Kitane's instructions hadn't led him wrong, and he had headed out of the village to one of the training ground in the woods. He had forgotten the specific training ground in the excitement of learning a new jutsu on top of finding out about his father. Sora figured he'd see if this Asuma was all that. If he couldn't find Sora practicing a destructive jutsu in the woods, Sora would get all the info about Kazuma he could and train under someone more competent. But deep down, Sora was just too happy to care about anything beyond learning about his father. Sora cracked open the scroll and began to read about the 'Flying Swallow'.

After several hours of practice, Sora was feeling like Kitane had lied to him. This jutsu wasn't easy at all! Channeling chakra was difficult enough, but wind chakra was proving to be impossible. He had been at it for hours, and the claw marks from his weapon were strewn around the clearing he was training in. Sora decided to take a short break to recover his chakra. He didn't pay attention in class all the time…ever, but Iruka made sure a blind, deaf, and dumb worm learned the dangers of chakra exhaustion. Sora didn't exactly know what chakra exhaustion felt like, but he was kinda tired and had been using a lot of chakra, so he assumed that it counted. After a short time Sora did what he did best, sleep.

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"You know, I wasn't sure what to think when Kazuma's son decided to try and steal from a jonin's place of residence in broad daylight." Sora awoke to a deep voice. "If the military police were still around, you'd be sleeping in a jail cell, not a forest." Sora sat up and opened his eyes to take in the new arrival. He wore a jonin's flak jacket and a Leaf forehead protector, identifying him as a ninja. A cigarette hung from his mouth, and his brown hair stretched down from the top of his head to the bottom of his chin in large sideburns and a small goatee. All of this was lost on Sora once he saw the waist cloth with the kanji for fir emblazoned on it, identifying the man as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. Other than Kitane, the only living members were Asuma and Chiriku, and since Chiriku was apparently living in some monastery somewhere, this could only be Asuma. Sora was slightly afraid of being punished by the man he had stolen from, but Asuma seemed more amused than angry. "I decided to follow the little squirt who thought he could steal from me, set on stopping a potential spy. But I must say, even if you are Kazuma's kid, learning the Flying Swallow to this degree in such a short time is impressive."

Before Sora could respond, three poles struck the ground in a triangle around him. Lightning sprung from the staffs, forming an electric blue wall around Sora.

"Asuma, glad you showed up. Now we can finish this." said Kitane menacingly as he stepped out from under the trees.

"Finish what? What are you on about?"asked Asuma, confused as to what his old friend was talking about.

"We can avenge Kazuma. We can kill the Nine Tails." said Kitane, a wild look in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?!" asked Sora, even more confused by these proceedings than Asuma. "Where does the Nine Tails come into any of this?!"

"Don't tell me you couldn't figure it out. Your right arm, the hate filled looks, the 'mysterious' disappearance of the Nine Tails? No one knows where the Nine Tails went right after the attack all those years ago, but it resurfaced to attack the Twelve Guardian Ninja. Putting two and two together yet, Sora?" said Kitane as Sora's eyes widened with the realization of what Kitane was implying. "Let me spell it out for you! You aren't Kazuma's son Sora, you just took that form after we defeated you. You are the Nine Tails that killed out comrades all those years ago, including Sora's father Kazuma! Nauma, Seito, Tou, and I defeated you using Limelight long enough for the Third Hokage to seal you back up, but that arm is proof that you'll just break that seal soon enough. I set you on learning the Flying swallow to exhaust you so Asuma and I could finish you off once and for all!"

"What! What are you talking about Kitane? My dad might not be the seal master the Fourth was, but he knows what he's doing. This is Sora, and if you kill him, the Nine Tails he's been holding back all these years like a hero will be released! I took so much sacrifice to stop the beast before, and you'd see that wasted for some misaimed revenge?" Asuma spoke in disbelief before drawing two trench knives out of his kunai pouch. "I'm sorry Kitane, but I won't let the others have died in vain."

"Very well then, Asuma. If you aren't with me, then you're against me! Sorry, but you'll have to die alongside the Nine Tails!" shouted Kitane as he drew another staff from his back, the tip splitting into three prongs, lightning arching between them.

Meanwhile, Sora was shocked by the deluge of information he was receiving. Kitane hadn't meant a word he said earlier. Kitane hadn't wanted to watch over him, or help him become a ninja. He had just wanted to exhaust Sora for an easy kill, and though Sora was loath to admit it, it had worked. He was dead tired.

Asuma's trench knives clashed repeatedly with Kitane's staff. Though the wind chakra coating them gave Asuma the technical advantage, Kitane's staff kept even the elongated knives at a safe distance. And while the wind chakra running their length dispersed the lightning, some still made it down the knives to give Asuma a small jolt. It was nothing in small doses, but the small shocks started to add up.

"Just give it up Asuma! Just let me kill the Nine Tails. There's no need for us to fight." shouted Kitane over the crackling of the lightning and the howling winds.

"Not a chance!" Asuma shot back, jumping back to try and tip the scales. Asuma's hands flew through the seals and Kitane did likewise. They completed their two different techniques at the same time.

**Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!**

**Lightning Style: Raging Bolt!**

A large sphere of lightning formed over Kitane's head, crackling with power before hurtling down at Asuma. Asuma spit a large black cloud of smoke at Kitane, and the smoke also covered his own escape.

"I always knew you were a coward, but this is a new low for you Asuma!" Kitane whirled around in the smoke, searching for Asuma.

Suddenly, Asuma spoke up, his voice coming from seemingly every direction. "Shame you were always too focused on your berserker charges to notice the end of this jutsu." With that said, an audible click was heard as Asuma hit the flint he had embedded in his tooth ever since Chiriku had chipped it. The resulting spark was enough to expose the smoke for what it actually was, highly flammable gunpowder. The resulting explosion destroyed the area, and for once Sora was glad for the lightning walls surrounding him. Asuma spoke again as the smoke cleared. "Looks like you let your guard down at the end." Asuma walked over to Sora's prison and sliced one of the pillars of the lightning field clean in half, ending the technique.

"Who let his guard down at the end!?  **Lightning Style: Lightning Eruption!** "

"What!?" exclaimed Asuma as the ground beneath him lit up an electric yellow. Kitane emerged from the remaining smoke, lightly burnt with his staff in shambles, but otherwise unharmed. The electricity from Kitane's technique shot up from the ground, electrocuting Asuma and bringing him to his knees. As it was, he had only remained conscious through copious amounts of wind chakra being pumped through his body.

Kitane laughed at his former comrade's sorry state. "As if I didn't know what your techniques do! We were comrades for years. Now move aside so I can end the Nine Tails!"

"No. Kazuma wouldn't want this, Kitane. Sora isn't the Nine Tails. I can't profess to know him intimately, but Sora is Sora, no one else. And Sora is our friend's son! I'll die before I let you kill him!" Asuma was shouting by the end, and had tightened his grip on his trench knives.

"Well then I'll just kill you first. L **ightning Style: Thunder Clap**!" Lightning began to cover Kitane's hands as he finished the hand seals for his technique. He rushed forward, bringing his arms back to crush Asuma's head like a grape. Sora's eyes widened as he lunged forward. Kitane grinned internally; Sora's desperate slash with his triple bladed claws would fall a good foot short of Kitane. Kitane adjusted his attack to hit Sora instead of Asuma. The claws passed by harmlessly, and Kitane went in for the kill.

Or he would have, if a sharp pain hadn't spread across his chest. That was when Kitane noticed the red chakra coating the blades of Sora's claws, extending a good foot and a half past the end of the claws. Looking down, Kitane noticed the three parallel slashes across his chest. He had only a second to marvel at the fact that Sora had managed to learn the Flying Swallow technique in only a few hours before the more experienced user of the Flying Swallow struck him square in the chest.

" **Flying Swallow: Straight Line**!" shouted Asuma as his fist slid around Kitane's chest. Then the ground on the other side of Kitane buckled in the shape of a crescent. Kitane's body fell to the ground in two pieces, cut perfectly in half by the blade of wind chakra. Sora looked both awed by the destruction caused by the Flying Swallow and glad that the liar who had manipulated him was dead.

Sora was brought out of his revelry by Asuma's voice. "Come on, Sora. As much as I'd love to collapse here and rest, we'd best report this to the Hokage." Sora could only swallow and nod as Asuma started to walk away. Asuma looked over his shoulder at the young blue haired boy. "And… good work back there. The Flying Swallow isn't easy to learn, so… good job."

Despite all that he had been through, Sora found a grin creeping up on his face.

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Miles away, ten shadowy figures gathered atop the fingertips of a massive statue, only their eyes clearly visible through the technique that allowed them all to gather here. The figure atop the right thumb spoke with clear authority. "Since we are gathered here, I can only assume that Zetsu and Sasori have found the targets. Am I correct?" the figure asked, looking over at the left hand with ringed eyes.

"Indeed, we just located the Nine Tails jinchuriki. **He certainly knows how to hide, but we finally got him to use the Nine Tail's chakra.** Yeah, thanks for letting us use that Kitane guy!" answered the figure on the little finger of the right hand with two distinct voices and a rather unique silhouette.

The hunched over figure on the left thumb of the statue spoke up next in a deep, raspy voice. "Well you're not welcome. That one was a useful spy, not that he knew. But desperate times call for desperate measures. The Nine Tails has certainly kept us waiting, and I hate waiting."

"Now that we have identified the targets, it will be up to you to gather them. Wait until the beast before yours has been captured to move, but once that requirement is met, take as much time as you will. It will make little difference. But do not strike in a way to draw attention. Akatsuki must remain in the shadows a bit longer if we are to succeed in blinding the world with our light." spoke the figure on the right thumb.

"I'm just surprised you managed to find him at all. He's successfully evaded the two best spymasters on the continent for over fifteen years. Good job." said the figure that stood on the left little finger as his golden eyes hid a mixture of relief and confusion.

"We are Akatsuki." spoke a female voice from the right middle finger. "The only time we do not do 'good' jobs is when we do 'perfect' jobs."

"Collect the information on your targets. We start with the Seven Tails. Dismissed." with those final words from the leader, the shadowy figures faded into nothingness and the demonic statue slipped into the ground, leaving no evidence that anyone had ever been there.

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**A/N: Third chapter up. Wooo! This departed a bit from Naruto, but I wanted to set up the events in Konoha. Sora will be taking Naruto's place in his own way. For those of you who don't know, he was important in a filler arc of the anime that made you care about Asuma before Hidan killed him. The premise for this story actually came from the thought of how unstoppable Pain and Sage Mode Naruto would be fighting together. So there's that. Sage Mode will be getting some weaknesses in this story so that Naruto can't just stand there and take Lightning Blades to the face again and again, so Naruto won't be a god. Some people were confused as to why Naruto took the Nine Tails thing so well. In canon, he was hated and despised for years before finally finding out why. He was over it in like ten minutes. Being raised by a loving family, the toads, would probably increase his trauma resistance. Since the Nine Tails disappeared for a few years between Naruto and Sora, the village doesn't hate Sora** **_as much_ ** **as they hated canon Naruto. Please review, and I'll see ya next week!**


	4. Dawn's Sage Chapter 4

Dawn's Sage

Chapter 4

"So let me get this straight. We're going to waltz into the most heavily defended Hidden Village IN THE WORLD in full Akatsuki regalia, drop hints about how we're looking for the Nine Tail's jinchuriki, and no one will care?" asked Deidara in disbelief after hearing her partner's 'master plan'.

"People WILL care, that's the point. Nabbing the jinchuriki on an irregular mission to god knows where or lord forbid in the village is suicide." spoke the young sage. "This way, they give him a couple of protectors and ship him off somewhere 'hidden' so we don't wreck the village if we tried to get him that way. Which we won't, because as strong as we are, no one can take on an entire Hidden Village, let alone the Hidden Leaf." Contrary to his statement, Naruto could think of six people who could probably pull off the feat he claimed to be impossible. "Besides, Leader gave us permission to put Akatsuki on the map. If some people see us, it's no big deal."

"Look, my art could probably level a city, but stealth and kidnappings are not my strong suit, yeah." said Deidara, loath to admit that her art had any shortcomings.

"That's why you're partnered with me. My jutsu are based around small scale damage with varying levels of lethality. You just make sure the jinchuriki doesn't start a full transformation. My summons don't like to be called for Tailed Beast emergencies." said Naruto, both to reassure Deidara and fill the time with idle chatter.

"Speaking of which, I've never actually seen you summon anything before. What even is your summoning contract?" asked Deidara, more than willing to oblige Naruto's unspoken request for conversation. The response was cut off by Naruto's abrupt halt. He stuck out his hand to signal a stop.

"We're here." said Naruto as he began running through several hand seals.

"Where is 'here' exactly? This is just some random clearing. The Hidden Leaf is just about a mile ahead. Let's just go ahead and get this 'brilliant' plan of yours over and done." said Deidara. Despite her frustration, she didn't go past Naruto. She had learned over the years that his sensory abilities were surpassed by none except Zetsu and Pain. When he said to stop, you stopped, even if it was in the middle of the woods for no discernible reason. Naruto finished his seals and put his right hand on Deidara's chest, while his left hand took a place on his chest. Just as Deidara was about to call him out for feeling her up, a sealing matrix spread out from Naruto's hands, running across her body before fading. "Okay, what was that, yeah?" asked Deidara, thoroughly confused by her partner's actions.

"The Hidden Leaf is surrounded by a sealed dome, which alerts a team of highly trained ninja about anyone unauthorized entering the city. It doesn't pick up low chakra levels, so trade is fairly unrestricted. And all Leaf headbands have a small seal inside to allow entrance to the village, so their own ninja can pass inside with no problem." informed Naruto.

"If there's some all seeing seal dome around the village, how come I've never heard of it?" asked Deidara.

"Because it's a ninja village." responded Naruto simply. "They keep secrets."

"Then how did you find out about it, yeah?" asked Deidara, now just annoyed at her partner.

"I sensed it easily enough; it's drawing enough Natural Chakra to turn my even me into stone. But I still wouldn't have a clue what the heck it was if Itachi hadn't told me before hand." responded Naruto, answering every question posed to him with a calm that betrayed his young age.

"You and that Uchiha; it's weird, yeah. You'd think you were partners with that jerk instead of with me, the way you two get along. Though I must admit, those sharingan are pretty. Not art level, but they're up there." said Deidara as Naruto laughed at his partner's antics.

"Let's go then. I hear the ramen in the Hidden Leaf is wonderful." said Naruto, his toad-like eyes glowing with anticipation.

"Blegh. It's always ramen with you. We're eating some real food this time, yeah. Let's try to find a dango stand." said Deidara as the two walked into the village proper, drawing some strange looks from the guards for their strange attire and obscuring hats.

"That's even less of a meal than ramen is. At least my suggestion isn't desert." deadpanned Naruto.

"Any better ideas that soggy noodles or delicious sweets?" asked an annoyed Deidara.

"Ramen for lunch then dango for desert?" ventured Naruto tentatively.

"Deal."

The two teenaged members of Akatsuki finished their lunch without event, if one ignored the simply insane amounts of ramen Naruto consumed within the time it took Deidara to finish a single bowl. Deidara decided to throw Naruto under the bus if Kakuzu asked why they had spent more than the allotted amount on this mission. Which of course would happen, since Kakuzu's 'allotted amount' practically had them paying him out of pocket, as opposed to them actually getting money out of the tall bounty hunter. Deidara looked around and was annoyed to see that her absent-minded following of her partner had led them not to a dango stand, but to the outskirts of the village alongside a small waterway.

"What's the big idea, yeah? I was looking forward to those sweets." asked Deidara, only acting annoyed. She knew that Naruto never did anything without reason, even if it wasn't always a good one.

"I thought we might want to eat after dealing with the rats that have been following us, hoping we'd drop something." said Naruto with a meaningful glance over his shoulder. Two figures jumped out of the trees and landed several yard away from the Akatsuki partners. One of them was a tall man with beard and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, while the other was a beautiful woman who was wearing more bandages than actual dress. The first to speak was the man.

"Who are you? And what business do you have in the Leaf?" he inquired, hands twitching towards his kunai pouch.

"We're simply artists and collectors. We were looking for quite the rare piece here in the Leaf. Once we heard it might be here, we came as soon as we were able. After all, there are only nine pieces like it in the world." said Naruto smoothly. He was referring to the jinchuriki, hoping that these jonin could pick up on the hint.

Unfortunately, he appeared to have overestimated them. "What if we don't believe you?" asked the female, hands moving into a more practical position for hand seals as her chakra built up.

"Oh for the love of god, yeah! Let's just get this over with!" shouted Deidara as she removed her hat. Naruto sighed as the slashed Rock forehead protector gleamed in the light. "We're here looking for the Nine Tails. Hand him over, and we won't level this place."

"Deidara, need I remind you we're here to gather information, not start a war. Let me handle this." chided Naruto as he removed his own hat. He turned his eyes to the side briefly as he sensed a small chakra level retreating. He had almost missed it next to the two jonin flaring their chakra right next to him, but Natural Chakra missed nothing. He turned his attention to the two Hidden Leaf ninja before him. "So if you could just tell us where he is, we'll leave with no trouble."

"Sora isn't in the village at the moment, but you won't be around when he gets back, so don't worry!" The man pulled out two small knives as he dashed forward that seemed harmless enough, but Naruto could see the chakra rolling off of them in waves. He blocked the first one with his Sage Mode enhanced forearm, but the wind chakra still managed to leave a small cut. Naruto didn't dwell on it however, and quickly grabbed the jonin's other fist, leaving another shallow cut on his palm, to prevent his opponent from forming any seals. Naruto had to appreciate the chakra blades that would have certainly bisected a normal human, and he was grateful for his diamond hard skin. He pulled his opponent in brought his knee into the man's gut, driving the wind from him like a ton of bricks. Naruto stepped behind his foe and raised his hand to deliver the finishing blow when his hand was stopped by the branches of a tree that had grown from the stones behind him. Naruto linked the obvious genjutsu with the flaring chakra from the woman from before. Once he recognized it, Naruto broke the genjutsu without even trying thanks to the Natural Chakra constantly flooding his chakra system. By simply changing the rate at which he absorbed Natural Chakra, Naruto could break all but the strongest genjutsu. However, Naruto heeded his own advice to Deidara; they did need someone to actually spread the word of their search for the Nine Tails so they could make an attempt when the Hidden Leaf tried to move the jinchuriki to a safer location.

Naruto was so engrossed with his thoughts he almost missed the kunai that the woman drove into his neck. Almost. One didn't have perfect chakra sensing and miss that. The kunai glanced off his Sage Mode enhanced skin, much to the woman's surprise. Naruto brought his hand down to grip the woman's wrist before flipping her over his shoulder. His left hand went to punch her in midair and send her flying. But before he could make contact, she exploded in a shower of flower petals. The male jonin used his position on the ground to attempt a leg sweep, but was grimaced in pain when his kick connected with what felt like a brick wall. The Akatsuki member didn't move an inch as the Leaf jonin retreated to regroup. Naruto didn't need to. He had worked with Deidara long enough to know how long it took to prepare a piece of art.

"Deidara, now." said Naruto as he turned his back on his opponents to jump onto the white bird that rose from the walkway behind him. Deidara grinned as she threw her hands out at the two Leaf ninja. Two small white birds with four wings apiece flew swiftly at the duo.

"Katsu!"

…

Deidara was annoyed at the lack of art that accompanied her shout of creation. Instead of an artistic smear on the ground, two hounds made of lightning were chewing on her clay creations like chew toys before they dispersed into the air. The two jonin that Naruto had effectively manhandled had been joined by a third that was helping them to their feet. The newcomer had a head of spiky silver hair and wore both a mask and a headband over his left eye, leaving only his right eye exposed. Deidara wasn't too mad about the destruction of her art though; she had left a surprise for the man who had managed to draw blood from Naruto, a feat even her art hadn't accomplished.

As the duo flew away, a segmented centipede rose from the ground and wrapped itself around the bearded jonin. The lightning user channeled his element into his right hand and sliced the centipede from top to bottom. Ant other one of her creations would have been shorted out by the electrical interference, but this art was actually many small pieces that acted independently. The portions that had been cut in half by their weakness didn't detonate, but the lower ones that had yet to be touched exploded with all the glory Deidara had come to expect from her art.

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Shikamaru and Choji were in a hurry. Sure Sora was an abrasive jerk, but he was a fellow member of Team 10. Asuma had been rushed to the hospital, unconscious with his legs a mangled mess, so it was up to them to help warn Sora of these Akatsuki people that wanted him dead. It hadn't taken long for Shikamaru to find out that Sora had left with Jiraiya of the Sannin to find Tsunade of the Sannin, both to become the next Hokage and heal the previous Hokage, who had fallen into a coma after his fight against the Fourth Kazekage. The attempted invasion of the Hidden Sand had been painful, but not devastating by any means. The Hidden Leaf would recover. Shikamaru knew that there were certain people that would want revenge, but he also knew that no one wanted to spark another war. Both sides had lost enough already; further conflict would just drag in the other nations.

Shikamaru had found out from his father that the targeted duo was starting their search in Tanzaku Town, a small tourist community not too far from the Hidden Village. He had no doubts that Jiraiya could handle himself, but the element of surprise had killed many ninja before the legendary Sannin, and would kill many after. If he knew about the threat, half the battle was already won.

The two friends arrived at Tanzaku Town and were simply overwhelmed by the sheer ustle and bustle of the city. The Hidden Leaf was just a large, but it was designed around utility and defense, not as a massive advertisement. The two decided to split up and search for Jiraiya and Sora separately to speed things up. Shikamaru figured that if they were found by the Akatsuki, two genin would be little more threat than one. The only hope they had was to find Jiraiya before Akatsuki.

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It had been a while since Jiraiya had seen the small toad on his windowsill. The tiny red creature had told him that it possessed crucial information, but would only reveal it if the Sannin caught it and bought the toad candy. The toad then jumped off the windowsill and began hopping like mad through the city. It took Jiraiya several seconds to process what had just happened. Jiraiya had never met this particular toad, and so had no way to simply summon him back. And so the great Sannin, Toad Sage of Mount Myobokuzan, the man men want to be and women want, was reduced to chasing a toad the size of his fist around the town like a genin on his first D-Rank.

He had told the tagalong kid that Asuma had sent with him to book a room at the hotel, and Jiraiya was almost glad to be away from the Nine Tail's Jinchuriki's incessant whining. Or he would be, if this accursed toad wasn't so darn fast!

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Naruto and Deidara hovered above Tanzaku Town, doing lazy circles on the clay hawk. Naruto had yet to meet the Nine Tail's jinchuriki himself, but he assumed he simply had to find the biggest chakra source in the city and find its source. The two largest in the city were actually fairly close in size, but they were travelling together, so Naruto could only assume that these travelers were the jinchuriki and its protector. Once Deidara described the two to him courtesy of some long range reconnaissance from the camera-like device over her left eye, Naruto recognized the younger as the jinchuriki Sasori and Zetsu had found, while the older was Jiraiya of the Sannin, the only other Toad Summoner. It had been a clever plan, in Naruto's opinion to lure Jiraiya away with a Gamakichi by promising snacks should he distract the Sannin for long enough. It was almost too easy, which is why something had to go wrong.

He really couldn't even blame anyone but himself. He had focused a bit too much on making sure that their entrance didn't destroy half the city and so had dismissed the two relatively small chakra signatures that were quickly approaching the target. The three immortals of Akatsuki would never let him live down such a rookie mistake, even if he was still technically a rookie.

The approach had gone smoothly enough. They had descended, no one paying them any more attention than they would any other bird. They had entered the hotel through the window of an adjacent room. Naruto entered the hotel proper, while Deidara remained at the window to give pursuit should the jinchuriki attempt to flee out of the window. The two young Akatsuki members had decided to stick it to their superiors by capturing one of their targets first, only several miles from the nearest Hidden Village to top it all off. Of course, any prolonged conflict would bring both the wrath of the Hidden Leaf and the scorn of their elders in Akatsuki. Naruto decided to tackle this one himself, since Deidara wasn't really a stealth person.

Naruto calmly knocked on the door, but inside he was a raging tumult of emotions. If this Leaf genin was really the Nine Tail's jinchuriki or a suitable substitute, Naruto was off the hook. All he had to do was not use the Nine Tail's chakra, something he didn't even know how to do, in front of an Akatsuki member, and he was home free. Several seconds after his knock, the door opened, and a blue haired kid poked his head out, Leaf forehead protector on display upon his forehead. To the average passerby, he was a normal kid, if a ninja. But to Naruto, his chakra was a raging sea of raw energy, most of it his own, but trace amounts undeniably demonic in nature. Focusing on the source of the demonic chakra, Naruto found the sea located on the jinchuriki's stomach contained a chakra exactly like his own. The only difference was the sheer amount, but that would hardly matter. Nine Tails chakra was Nine Tails chakra, regardless of the amount. Naruto was safe.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto had been so focused on the relief he felt at not being hunted down by his own comrades that he almost missed the target's annoyed response to being woken up from a wonderful nap.

Naruto went to step forward and sucker punch the target. With Sage Mode, it would be an easy knock out. Only he couldn't move.

"Shadow Possession Complete."

Naruto's eye widened as he realized what the target had done. The reason his chakra had been so large and easy to read was because he had been flaring it. The massive chakra source in the small room, coupled with Naruto's single mindedness in his sensing meant that the two smaller sources that had been trying to hide their chakra had been passed over without a second thought. With Naruto now on full alert, the two genin were as easy to spot as his own Akatsuki cloak. Naruto had missed them, and was now paying the price. He couldn't move as the large, now larger, genin began spinning towards him. Naruto was in trouble.

Or he would be, if he weren't a Sage, member of Akatsuki, and S-Rank ninja. The shadow that was connected to his own was easily destroyed with some Sage Chakra channeled through it. He brought his hands up to catch the large human boulder that was hurtling towards him. Thanks to his Sage Mode, it didn't hurt in the slightest, but the sheer velocity and mass of the technique sent him skidding back into the hallway. The spinning finally stopped, but before the large ball could revert back to a more human shape, Naruto brought his right hand back. He used said hand to deliver a powerful strike to the middle of the large mass in front of him. One could see the hit send ripples across the ball before the genin was sent flying down the hall, cracking the wall upon impact. The fat Leaf genin's technique ended as he was forcefully sent spiraling into unconsciousness.

With one out of the way, Naruto turned his attention to the two genin in the room, who had since moved out into the hallway. The weaker one's shadow shot out once more, but that was easily dealt with via brute force. The jinchuriki ran at him with a set of claws, obviously assuming that Naruto would be held immobile by the strange shadow technique. Naruto noticed the chakra coming off of the claws, similar to the day's earlier encounter with a set of trench knives. Not wanting to be cut by a set of genin, Naruto spat a glob of toad oil into the jinchuriki's face. The oil obscured the blur of movement that was Naruto even more as he delivered a vicious chop to the back of the jinchuriki's neck, sending him to a forced sleep.

Naruto continued on to the third genin, the one that had managed to catch him off guard. Naruto was a sage! Sages were not caught off guard! It might have been petty, but Naruto was in a hurry, and Akatsuki was supposed to be brutal and unforgiving. The straight forward jab appeared to be a simple attack to dodge, and despite Naruto's speed, the young genin appeared to do just that. Then he went flying down the hall anyway.

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Shikamaru struggled to stay conscious. He hadn't planned on the Akatsuki being this ridiculously powerful. The plan was supposed to end when Choji's Human Boulder connected with the man at the door. But instead the attack had failed for whatever reason, most likely a defensive jutsu of high rank, and the following fight was better described as a no holds barred beatdown. But Sora was a teammate, and dare he say it, a friend. Shikamaru would not allow Akatsuki to win this easily. He struggled to his feet, but his vision was blurred and his ears were ringing with strange notes. He knew he had no real hope of beating an S-Rank ninja as he was. And people wondered why he enjoyed himself while he could.

Shikamaru was honestly surprised, something that didn't happen often, when his vision cleared up, and was more shocked when he was surrounded by four large toads, each wearing what would have been a comical getup in any other situation. Beyond them was a nondescript pink background. The toads seemed immobile, standing with a sword in one hand and the other thrust out as if to hold Shikamaru back.

"Enjoy your stay. You won't be leaving." Shikamaru looked down to see the Akatsuki member he had been 'fighting' fading away. This was a genjutsu, it had to be. Shikamaru disrupted his chakra flow, slowing down his life energy to a trickle before using all he had in one big flare. When he opened his eyes, he has still surrounded by the four toads, in his strange prison. Only the toad song to keep him company.

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Naruto supposed that using the Toad Confrontation Chant might have been overkill for a simple genin, but he was still kind of angry from the whole immobilization thing earlier. Plus, with all luck, the Hidden Leaf would place a higher priority on two genin in comas than a third who went mysteriously missing. Naruto turned around to collect the jinchuriki, but was furious at what he saw, not that he showed it.

"I thought I heard toad song." spoke the man in red, who was holding the jinchuriki over his shoulder. The newcomer was clad in red and wore a headband with the kanji for oil on it. Naruto grit his teeth at the appearance of the Toad Sannin, knowing that any conflict with him would be long and loud enough to bring any ninja within a hundred miles. The Sannin set his charge up against the wall, before running through the seals for the Summoning Technique. "You won't be leaving here." When Jiraiya slapped his hands on the ground, the walls began to morph into a pink flesh.

Naruto recognized this as a cave he once found on Mount Myobokuzan which was in actuality the throat of a massive toad. With the jinchuriki and the two genin, one unconscious and the other staring blankly into space, Naruto didn't think that he would have to worry about the fire breathing aspect of this toad that had nearly roasted him all those years ago. Naruto prepared to fight his way out, but Jiraiya noticed the clay spider that was lurking on the ceiling. The spider jumped down, but was impaled on the Sannin's now spikier white mane as it wrapped around him and the jinchuriki. The explosive went off anyway, and Deidara ran out of the room she had been waiting in. She might like a fight more than Naruto, but she had no wish to use her ultimate art today, and the Sannin would definitely hold them long enough for help to arrive. She knew when a plan had gone south.

When Jiraiya's hair returned to its regular size and shape, he was surprised by the amount of smoke in the corridor. The lack of a follow-up attack meant that the Akatsuki duo had fled when he was distracted by the explosion going off in his hair. What the Sannin couldn't figure out was how they had done it. The Toad Mouth Bind was durable enough to take those kinds of explosions all day. As the smoke cleared, Jiraiya first noticed the safety of the three genin on Team 10. Then he noticed the completely clear walls. Somehow, the two had managed to completely destroy the throat of the mountain toad enough to force a summon dismissal. Jiraiya turned the corner to see a large hile in the wall of the hotel, no doubt caused by that exploding jutsu.

Jiraiya approached the wall to check the damage and look for clues as to how they had managed to dismiss his toad.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Jiraiya knew then, it was just not his day.

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**A/N: Chapter four up! Wooo! This story has received mixed reviews so far, a few supportive, most flames. Mostly I'm going on the assumptions that since people keep favoriting this and following it, they must want to keep reading it. Having some of this reflected in review would be nice. So go on, review! On another note, to address concerns, Sora is not replacing Canon Naruto. I was making parallels, not just switching names and places. Sora is exactly what he was in canon, a pseudo-jinchuriki. Sasori and Zetsu were fooled by the closest thing to the real deal you can get. Naruto isn't about to correct them. When I said Sage Mode would be getting some weaknesses, I didn't mean that Naruto was weak, I just meant that he'll need to dodge when a high level piercing or cutting jutsu comes at him. Any review is appreciated, and some positive reinforcement goes a long way. See ya**


	5. Dawn's Sage Chapter 5

Dawn's Sage

Chapter 5

Being home was a good feeling for most people. Granted, most people didn't leave home after killing hundreds of allies in attempt to murder a country's leader, getting pursued by legions of hunter ninja, and joining a group of legends and monsters. So Kisame was not experiencing a good feeling because he was home. He was experiencing a good feeling because he was home to finish what he started. Sure, he wasn't supposed to kill the Fourth Mizukage in battle like he wanted, but watching the life be slowly siphoned out of him over three excruciating days would suffice.

Using the blue man's intricate knowledge of the islands that composed the Land of Water and the secret tunnels that connected them, Kisame and his partner had snuck through the country to the arrive at the Village Hidden in the Mist. The Uchiha wasn't happy about the heavy mist obscuring his precious eyesight, but Kisame was in his element. He had never been as good as Zabuza at Silent Killing, a fact that irked him each and every day, but the mist was his ally nonetheless. The two S-Rank ninja's maneuvered their way around the village for several days, keeping a low profile as they observed the Mizukage's routine. Of course, the two Akatsuki members left the reconnaissance mostly up to Itachi, since Itachi wasn't a missing ninja from the same village they were hiding in. His Sharingan allowed him to discreetly obtain information from loyal Mist ninja via genjutsu and memorize anything instantaneously. And he wasn't a six foot tall blue shark man carrying a massive national treasure on his back secured in some bandages. That might have also had something to do with it.

Over a week or two, the dangerous duo had discovered that among the Mizukage's routine, the young ruler trained on a private island not even his ANBU were allowed on. Not only would the Mizukage be alone, but any massive combat commotion that would no doubt ensue when three ninja of their caliber clashed would be written off as the Mizukage training. The two snuck onto the island as the Mizukage left from his training session and prepared for his arrival the next day.

Upon arriving at his island retreat the next day, Yagura entered a forest that he hadn't destroyed yet during his training. He walked into the foliage for several minutes before he stopped and spoke aloud. "I'm fully aware why Kisame would be after me, but I find it difficult to imagine what I did that deserves the wrath of an Uchiha as well. Kisame is aware of this, but I'll warn as Uchiha as well. If you fight me with Kisame, it will be the last fight of your life."

The two Akatsuki members emerged from the trees into the clearing where Yagura stood. Itachi was the one to respond in his monotone drawl. "We could care less about you. We're after the Tailed Beast; you are a minor inconvenience."

Yagura laughed aloud at that. "You really think you can take me? Ask Kisame, he tried once before, and it took all his skills to escape with his life. And I haven't been resting on my laurels either. So come at me, and see if you can make me draw even a drop of the Three Tail's chakra." said Yagura as he took the hooked staff from its place on his back. Yagura held out his other hand in a half ram seal as he held out his staff. A small circle of water formed at the tip, and launched a barrage of needles at the Akatsuki members. Upon closer inspection, one would see that these needles were not made of water as one might expect, but of coral. The Mizukage's coral was unique even by ninja standards, as it drained chakra from whatever it latched onto to grow even larger, eventually encasing its target. Kisame stabbed his blade into the ground and balanced on top of it to get above the coral's reach, but Itachi allowed himself to be struck, only to dissolve into a flock of crows.

Kisame meanwhile was busy forming hand seals while balancing on the hilt of Samehada. Upon finishing the seals, the water specialist of Akatsuki reared back his head before puking out hundreds of gallons of water, forming a small tidal wave. As the water rose into the air, Yagura simply twirled his staff around in a circle, the motion forming a larger mirror of water. Upon completing the circle, Yagura hooked the top of his mirror with his staff and drug it to the ground in a single movement. When the mirror struck the ground, water exploded upwards, far more than the mirror had been composed of. Soon Yagura stood atop his own tidal wave, equal in size and shape to Kisame's own. The two Exploding Water Shockwaves collided and canceled each other out, and Samehada collided with Yagura's staff in a mighty clash of steel and scales. The excess water from the attacks flooded the forest under several dozen feet of water.

The two Mist ninja landed apart from each other, standing on the water as Itachi reformed out of crows next to Kisame. The blue shark man was frustrated that his attack had been so easily beaten, but Yagura leaned on his staff wearing a smirk. Kisame ran at the Mizukage, who brought up his staff in a defensive stance. Itachi ran after Kisame to assist, but the Mizukage was doing nothing but defending almost contemptuously, wielding his staff effortlessly with one hand. Yagura brought the hook of his weapon down to catch the hilt of Samehada, ripping it form Kisame's grasp.

" **Coral Palm!** " shouted Yagura as he struck forward with his free hand at Kisame's exposed chest. Before he could make contact however, Itachi struck with his own jutsu. Yagura and Kisame jumped apart as the flaming dragon screamed past them, the water beneath it turning into steam. Yagura's hand caught the edge of the flames despite his hasty retreat, leaving him with a bad burn across his left hand, but nothing an experienced ninja like Yagura couldn't ignore. Kisame landed, and Samehada shot through the water towards him, eager to be reunited with its master. Itachi and Kisame glanced at each other, then nodded in unison. The two moved in perfect harmony, created from years of working together. Itachi dissolved once more into a flock of crows, as Kisame sprinted around Yagura.

The crows flocked around Yagura to obscure his vision, but Yagura was able to bat away those that came too close with ease, and sensing Kisame's monstrous chakra was so simple an Academy student could do it. Time seemed to slow however, as one of the crows flew directly past his face, its sharingan eye staring back intently. The world dissolved to black and white, and the clouds moved backwards in the sky. The crows flying about morphed into shuriken that flew towards the Fourth Mizukage at amazing speeds, digging into his flesh and restricting his movement. The Mizukage was no stranger to genjutsu, and recognized this one almost immediately, but somehow, the genjutsu was resisting his attempts to disrupt it. However, through sheer force of will, the Mizukage endured. He convinced himself that the pain was not real, even though every fiber of his body was shouting the exact opposite.

He convinced himself the pain was fake, until a large object hit him square in the back. He could feel the chakra being drained, no,  _eaten_  as Samehada was dragged along his back. The most powerful of the Seven Swords shaved off a fair bit of flesh as well. Yagura could only compare the sensation to having a stick covered in razor blades run across his back, only several hundred times worse. Looking up to the black sky, Yagura saw that not even that pain had been able to break him out of the genjutsu. A he gazed upon the sharingan moon, he realized it was getting closer. He tried to move, but the pain, both real and genjutsu induced, made sure he could only look on in terror as the orb descended and crushed him. In the distance, he heard Itachi's monotonous voice echo, "Seventy-one hours fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds remaining."

Itachi held his hand up to cover his bleeding left eye as Yagura collapsed on the ground. Kisame turned his eyes to his partner, worried that whatever technique Itachi used had some detrimental side effect. Their attention quickly turned to the Mizukage, who despite the powerful genjutsu and extreme pain was standing back up, this time coated in a cloak of solid red chakra. Three tails swished behind him as he moved his hands together into a series of hand seals. Kisame brought up Samehada, to deflect whatever came at them and Itachi's sharingan blazed back to life, showing him every move in slow motion before it was made. But neither of them was prepared for what came next. The Mizukage slammed his hands together and released a massive blast of demonic chakra. The deep water that Kisame had placed to assist his techniques was pushed back in a large tidal wave that the Akatsuki partners jumped away from. When the water settled, the Mizukage was gone, leaving the two missing ninja alone on a placid lake. It seemed as though he had made his escape, but Samehada and Itachi's sharingan picked up the buildup of chakra below in time for them to start running away.

The lake beneath their previous location suddenly erupted in a spray of water and deadly black chakra. As the blast dissipated, a large three tailed turtle emerged from the depths of the water. One eye closed, the spiky beast spat out a massive ball of water that quickly approached the two Akatsuki members. Kisame brought Samehada up to block the attack, and the shark sword ate the chakra in the water bullet. Kisame was taken aback when the enormous amount of chakra caused Samehada grow exponentially, its sudden increase in mass almost causing Kisame to drop is sword. The most powerful of the Seven Swordsmen had been sure that Samehada could take more than one water bullet, but he didn't know that it wasn't a water bullet. In actuality, it had been a ball of pure water chakra, dense enough to have the appearance of real water. Kisame steadied his now even more massive sword as the half submerged Three Tails quickly swam towards them. Kisame quickly ran through the hand signs of the one jutsu he knew that might be able to defeat the beast as the hilt of his sword snaked its way up his sleeve.

The transformed Yagura was met with a large ball of water in front of him, but confident in the swimming abilities of his transformed state, swam right on in. He could immediately feel his chakra being drained, but against the raw power of a Tailed Beast, the amount being taken was a pittance. The Mizukage saw a small creature darting around his head, and felt it striking at his hard shell, drawing a little chakra each time. As it darted before him once more, he noticed the figure was actually Kisame, who had somehow developed a method of fusing with his sword to become even more shark-like. The monster that Kisame had become was puny compared to the monster Yagura had become, but he was fast monster underwater. Kisame ran through some quick hand seals and summoned a multitude of sharks made of the surrounding water to hide himself in as he, and his sharks, began eating away at the Three Tail's chakra reserves. The beast bellowed and swung its tails, destroying many sharks, but the predators seemed to be numberless, splitting into more when they ate enough chakra. The Three Tails roared, the sound containing a huge amount of chakra itself. Enough chakra, in fact, to disrupt Kisame's Feeding Frenzy Technique, as the sharks dispersed into the surrounding waters.

The demonic turtle had definitely lost mass, and Kisame was glad to know his jutsu had done something, even if he had been stealing chakra, not flesh. Then Kisame noticed that the beast was actually regaining its previous size before his eyes. The half shark looked closer and saw that the edges of the beast were made of the same red chakra he had seen the Mizukage covered in after Itachi's genjutsu. Kisame grinned as he realized the implications of fighting an opponent whose entire body was composed of chakra. The water expert of Akatsuki dispersed his Water Prison Shark Dance Technique, the water running off into the ocean. His sword emerged from his arm as his appearance become more normal. The Three Tails didn't expect the sudden change of battlefield, and so fell to the ground from the now air inhabited sky. Kisame looked up and began flying through the seals needed for his trump card before the giant turtle crushed him. He finished, and thrust his hand skyward.

" **SUPER WATER SHARK BOMB!** " shouted Kisame as the water beneath him churned upward, forming a massive shark that charged the falling Three Tails. The shark engulfed its target, then clamped its mouth shut, mimicking a movement made by Kisame's hands. The Three Tails began to rapidly shrink and the shark bomb rocketed up into the sky as it grew to epic proportions, dwarfing the sun in the sky. The now chakra-less Yagura was launched along in the torrent of water. The technique lived up to its name as it exploded high in the sky.

Kisame panted with his arms raised to the sky as he looked over at his partner, who was looking as awed as his Uchiha pride would let him. The Uchiha had made himself scarce when Kisame had flooded the battlefield, and Kisame was glad for it. They both knew that the fire user would only be a hindrance in the Water Prison Shark Dance. The debris from Kisame's shark bomb fell from the sky like rain, but one chunk was larger than the rest.

Kisame and Itachi looked at the very wet, very dead body of the Fourth Mizukage before turning their gaze to each other. The final attack had been too powerful, fueled by the full power of a tailed beast, and had killed Yagura. The two were not excited to think of Pain's reaction to their failed mission.

"On the upside, no one will know it was Akatsuki if we get out of here fast enough?" suggested Kisame. Itachi simply nodded, and the two quickly disappeared.

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Jiraiya was not in a good mood. He had found Tsunade, and she had returned, if just to heal their sensei. The legendary medic had also healed the three genin that had been injured by Akatsuki as well as their sensei, who had nearly had his legs blown off. After the Third Hokage's plea, the last Senju had agreed to stay in the village and take over for the old monkey if he kicked the bucket. This was all great news, but it did nothing to alleviate the foul mood that had fallen over the Toad Sage since his brief run in with Akatsuki. He had thought back to the forced unsummoning of the Fire Breathing Mountain Toad's Throat, and the bombs he blocked wouldn't have done the kind of damage necessary to dismiss the summon. Besides, the lack of shockwaves or booms pointed to it not being forced dismissal by damage at all. And the only alternative was dismissal by another summoner.

And that was impossible, since Jiraiya knew he was the only summoner, except for the other toads. The Akatsuki member had also seemed to use the Toad Confrontation Chant on Shikamaru, something only Fukasaku and Shima working together could do. Which meant that blond haired Akatsuki member had done the impossible twice. And Jiraiya hadn't been looking, but he could have sworn that the missing ninja had been utilizing Sage Mode from Shikamaru's reports. Most took the being hit by nothing after dodging story as the word of a concussed genin who had been in a genjutsu coma for two weeks. But Jiraiya knew such technique was possible. And he knew of only two people besides himself who could do it.

"Ah, Jiraiya my boy! How nice of you to visit. What brings you out to our humble mountain?" asked Fukasaku as Jiraiya approached the dwelling of the two elderly toads. "Ma's a little mad ya don't come by more often, so you might want to compliment her cooking first if ya want her to talk to you." whispered Fukasaku to the old toad summoner.

"Actually Pa, I'm here to see if you know anything about a group called Akatsuki." said Jiraiya, cutting right to the chase. "I fought one of their members, and I he did things only a Toad Summoner could do."

"I was wondering when you two would meet." said Shima as she emerged from the hut carrying a platter of various bugs and insects. "Naruto has been a Toad Summoner in the world for several years now."

"What? What happened to me picking my own apprentice and successor? And besides, he's allied with the enemy!" exclaimed Jiraiya. "Akatsuki isn't just a group of missing ninja, they directly attacked the Hidden Leaf!"

"You had your shot to pick a successor, but Minato died. And as tragic as that was, there wasn't another successor coming from you, so we picked him to be our summoner." said Fukasaku calmly. "And before you get your mouth all puffed up, the toads serve their summoner. We've been allied with others before the Hidden Leaf and we'll be allied with others after the Hidden Leaf. As long as we have a summoner roaming the world, the toads are content."

"So, what? I'm not a Toad Summoner anymore?" asked Jiraiya in disbelief.

"No no no. The toads will still heed your calls and follow your instructions, but we'll also do the same for anyone else who holds our summoning contract. Now calm down before you start crying and have some lunch." said Shima reassuringly as she held up the platter of 'food' for Jiraiya to sample.

"NO!... thanks. I uh… just ate before I came up here." panicked the Sannin before becoming serious once more. "I understand your reasons, but I still don't like this. Having a Toad Summoner playing for the other team is something I can't support, and I can't believe you do."

"Jiraiya, we're older than you by a long shot. This isn't our first picnic, and the transition between summoner loyalties id always conflicting. This method has worked for the toads in the past and it will work again. Maybe not for you, but consider it a trial by fire. If you can beat Naruto, you can pick another summoner to succeed you as the strongest Toad Summoner." said Fukasaku solemnly, showing every one of his hundreds of years through his words.

"Alright. I'm not one to argue with tried and true methods like that, but I will be beating this upstart brat and defending my summoning contract." said Jiraiya, acknowledging his resignation to the way things had to be. "So his name is Naruto, huh? Seems familiar…"

"He was named after your first book, you fool." said Fukasaku, almost proudly.

"Huh." grunted Jiraiya. "I guess he sort of is my legacy, but if so, he's a legacy I have to erase. Akatsuki isn't some after school club. They're my enemies, and anyone affiliated with them has to go down."

Fukasaku and Shima could only worry about for the lives of their students as Jiraiya walked away from the two elder Sages.

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Pain was not in a good mood. He rarely was, but today was worse than most. He had amassed a group of the strongest missing ninja and unaffiliated ninja in the world, but somehow, they had managed to fail, not once, but two times in the same week. Naruto and Deidara were excusable; they were young and trying to prove themselves, and fleeing when confronted by Jiraiya of the Sannin not twenty miles from the Hidden Leaf was understandable. But Kisame losing himself in the battle and the past resulted in the death of the Fourth Mizukage, and the Three Tails along with him. Luckily the mishap had occurred with one of the lesser Tailed Beasts. The more tails the beast had, the longer it would take for the Tailed Beast to reform. Each tail corresponded to roughly a year, give or take. A three year delay was annoying and inconvenient, but at least Kisame hadn't killed the Eight Tails. Why Itachi hadn't been able to stop the shark man was a mystery, but the rogue Uchiha had Pain's confidence, unless Pain violated his end of the deal.

Pain held no illusions that anyone in Akatsuki besides himself and Konan cared about world peace, and in fact would be surprised if he didn't have to kill some of them before this was all over. He already had. One of the repercussions of Itachi joining Akatsuki had been Pain learning of 'Madara' and his true goals. He had dared defy a god, and paid the price. Pain did have to admit though; the fool had earned his place as an S-Rank ninja. It was a confidence booster as well. If Pain could defeat the great Madara Uchiha, he could defeat anyone.

But for the most part, Akatsuki helped them get what they wanted, and that was how the missing ninja world worked. You did what suited you with who suited you and dumped them the moment something else suited you more. The process usually involved one of the parties dead on the ground, but not only the best survived. And Akatsuki were the best.

Yet the best had messed up twice, once to expose them and their short term goals to the Hidden Leaf, and once to delay their plan a full three years. There was a meeting of Akatsuki about to start, and Pain would let the four failures know the depths of his displeasure.

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**A/N: Chapter five up! Wooo! Originally this chapter was just the two last scenes with Pain and Jiraiya, meant to ease the transition into the Shippuden era, but I decided to actually write the Yagura fight instead of just write** **_about_ ** **it. The other fight option I had was Pain vs. Tobi, but before he steals Nagato's Rinnegan, Tobi's power consists of not getting hit. I honestly had no idea how to write a fight with him as is, so I had Pain discover what he was up to and kill him off. If anyone is B.A. enough to kill Tobi, it's Pain. If I have an idea on how a fight between Pain and Tobi would work, I'll write it at a later date, or if anyone has any ideas as to how to make a fight between the two anything more than 'attack, phase through, repeat' I'm all ears. I'll be jumping to Shippuden soon, but this is a story about Naruto in Akatsuki, and they don't do all that much before Shippuden. On another note, the positive reviews I received last week were absolutely uplifting and I hope some of that awesome feeling was conveyed back this chapter. I case you don't think that a review is worth it, I got a review that said "cool..update" and it was strangely motivational. I hope you enjoyed and reviews are always appreciated! See ya!**


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